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As storm rages, more than 15K without power across Nevada

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As storm rages, more than 15K without power across Nevada


Nearly 15,000 NV Energy customers were without power across Nevada early Saturday.

About 4,000 customers lost power about 7:40 a.m. on the west side of the Las Vegas Valley, most near U.S. 95 and Rainbow Boulevard.

No estimated restoration time was available nor was a cause for the outage, according to the NV Energy outage website.

The rest of the outages, about 10,000 customers, were centered in the Reno-Carson City area with a few outages scattered across the state.

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Winds gusting to 72 mph were reported about 1:30 a.m. at the Red Rock Canyon Visitor’s Center on the far west side of the valley. The North Las Vegas Airport recorded gusts in the 45-mph range as of 7:30 a.m.

Severe wind warnings have been issued for the entire region. Forecasters say sustained winds will be 30-40 mph with gusts to 65 mph.

A warning for the Spring Mountains indicates gusts to 85 mph and white-out conditions are possible. Up to 12 inches of snow is forecast for the mountains.

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The peak time for wind gusts is expected to be from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, according to the weather service.

At Harry Reid International Airport, 55 flights had been delayed as of 9 a.m. Saturday with five cancellations, according to FlightAware.com.

The airport did not have any major delays for arrivals or departures, according to the Federal Aviation Administration website.

Tens of thousands without power

A powerful blizzard raged overnight into Saturday in the Sierra Nevada as the biggest storm of the season shut down a long stretch of Interstate-80 in California and gusty winds and heavy rain hit lower elevations, leaving tens of thousands of customers without power.

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Up to 10 feet (3 meters) of snow is expected in some areas. The National Weather Service said early Saturday that widespread blowing snow was creating “extremely dangerous to impossible travel conditions.” The combination of snow and high winds was most intense in the Sierra Nevada, with more than 3 inches (7 centimeters) of snow falling per hour and wind gusts over 100 mph (161 kph).

“High to extreme avalanche danger” is expected in the backcountry through Sunday evening throughout the central Sierra, including the greater Lake Tahoe area, the weather service said.

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California authorities on Friday shut down 100 miles (160 kilometers) of I-80 due to “spin outs, high winds, and low visibility.” They had no estimate when the freeway would reopen from the California-Nevada border just west of Reno to near Emigrant Gap, California.

Pacific Gas & Electric reported around 7 a.m. Saturday that 27,000 households and businesses were without power.

A tornado touched down Friday afternoon in Madera County and caused some damage to an elementary school, said Andy Bollenbacher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Hanford.

Some of the ski resorts that shut down Friday said they planned to remain closed on Saturday to dig out with an eye on reopening Sunday, but most said they would wait to provide updates Saturday morning.

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Palisades Tahoe, the largest resort on the north end of Tahoe and site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, closed all chairlifts Saturday due to snow, wind and low visibility.

The storm began barreling into the region on Thursday. A blizzard warning through Sunday morning covers a 300-mile (480-kilometer) stretch of the mountains.

Some ski lovers raced up to the mountains ahead of the storm.

Daniel Lavely, an avid skier who works at a Reno-area home/construction supply store, was not one of them. He said Friday that he wouldn’t have considered making the hour-drive to ski on his season pass at a Tahoe resort because of the gale-force winds.

But most of his customers Friday seemed to think the storm wouldn’t be as bad as predicted, he said.

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“I had one person ask me for a shovel,” Lavely said. “Nobody asked me about a snowblower, which we sold out the last storm about two weeks ago.”

Meteorologists predict as much as 10 feet (3 meters) of snow is possible in the mountains around Lake Tahoe by the weekend, with 3 to 6 feet (0.9 to 1.8 meters) in the communities on the lake’s shores and more than a foot (30 centimeters) possible in the valleys on the Sierra’s eastern front, including Reno.

Yosemite National Park closed Friday and officials said it would remain closed through at least noon Sunday.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Court OK’s counting late-arriving mail ballots in Nevada, 29 other states

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Court OK’s counting late-arriving mail ballots in Nevada, 29 other states


LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada’s laws allowing the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive up to four days after Election Day — so long as they are postmarked by that date — is constitutional under a Monday ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a 5-4 ruling, justices upheld a challenge to a Mississippi law that’s similar to Nevada’s statute. Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court’s three liberal members, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Katanji Brown Jackson, to uphold the law.

Conservatives Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

The ruling affects 30 states, all of which allow some ballots received after Election Day to be counted. That includes Nevada, which allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received and counted up to four days later, and ballots without a postmark to be received and counted up to three days later.

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Plaintiffs in the case — including the Republican National Committee and the Mississippi Republican Party — had contended that federal laws referring to “elections” mean both the casting and counting of ballots, which they said must occur on Election Day.

“The federal election-day statutes do not preempt Mississippi’s law because the defining element of an ‘election’ has always been the electorate’s choice of candidate,” the case summary reads. “And a related federal statute — the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act — confirms that while federal law dictates when ballots must be cast, state law governs when they must be received.”

In Nevada, critics have contended that late-arriving ballots erode confidence in elections, because they delay learning final election results for days and, in some close races, can change the outcome.

Gov. Joe Lombardo has called the weeklong wait for final, unofficial results “a national embarrassment.”

Plaintiffs in the case made similar arguments, but were turned away by the court: “Finally, plaintiffs policy arguments about election integrity and voter confidence are properly addressed to legislatures, not courts,” the case summary reads.

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Several attempts to require ballots to be received by Election Day have been introduced in Nevada’s Legislature, but none have been successful in the Democratically controlled body.

Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has argued that the overwhelming majority of ballots are in and counted by Election Day, and only the closest races may be changed by late-arriving ballots. He’s advocated for more resources for county clerks and voter registrars to be able to count mail ballots more quickly.

Under the ruling, nothing will change for Nevada voters going to the polls in four months to vote in the November election. But officials still encourage voters to send in their mail ballots early, or to put them in drop boxes at voting centers during early voting or on Election Day.

Supreme Court upholds late-arriving mail ballots in Mississippi

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One dead, four hospitalized after head-on crash on I-15 in Clark County

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One dead, four hospitalized after head-on crash on I-15 in Clark County


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada Highway Patrol responded to a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 15 near mile marker 94 Sunday evening.

The crash was reported at 6:43 p.m. on June 28.

MORE ON FOX5: Driver sustains life-threatening injuries in Las Vegas multi-vehicle crash

A passenger sedan and a pickup truck were involved in the crash. One vehicle was traveling southbound, lost control, crossed through the median, and struck the other vehicle head-on in the northbound travel lane.

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One adult male died at the scene. Two people were transported by ground ambulance, and two others were transported by life flight to a local hospital.

Road closures

All northbound I-15 travel lanes were closed at mile marker 94, but have since opened as of Sunday night.

Nevada Highway Patrol said further information will be provided following the preliminary investigation.

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Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires

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Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires












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Officials elevate response efforts to combat eastern Nevada wildfires | Local Nevada | Local























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